English Heritage announced in January 2005 £1 million of grants for repairs to cathedrals (January 2005). The article states that England has 61 cathedrals.
Is there a list of the historic cathedrals of England?
The English Heritage article lists these cathedrals which will get grants for repair work: Bristol Cathedral Coventry Cathedral Durham Cathedral Exeter Cathedral Guildford Cathedral Hereford Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral Liverpool Roman Catholic Cathedral Liverpool Church of England Cathedral Newcastle Roman Catholic Cathedral Newcastle Church of England Cathedral Ripon Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral Sheffield Church of England Cathedral Southwark Roman Catholic Cathedral Southwark Church of England Cathedral Wakefield Cathedral Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral St George’s Chapel, Windsor Worcester Cathedral
I found a book on Amazon called "Walking England's Cathedral Cities," by Rowland Mead, NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company, 2000. It lists these 14 Cathedrals:
St. Paul's Cathedral (London) Westminster Abbey (London) Southwark Cathedral (London) Canterbury Cathedral Rochester Cathedral St. Albans Cathedral Bury St. Edmonds Cathedral Ely Cathedral Norwich Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral Southwell Minster Lincoln Cathedral York Minster Durham Cathedral
I thought it would be interesting to put together a list of all the great cathedrals in England. We visited the Tewkesbury Abbey last fall.
Here is a list of the cathedrals in England (and Wales?) It looks as if the English Heritage list includes Roman Catholic cathedrals, while most people, architecturally speaking, mean the great gothic cathedrals that are now C. of E. I guess Ely is my favorite, closely followed by Salisbury, but they are all extraordinary. Yrs, Robert
(St. George's Chapel is a Royal Peculiar and has never been a cathedral. Westminster Abbey was only a cathedral for 10 years in the reign of Henry VIII)
One of the best books on the subject is still Alec Clifton-Taylor's The Cathedrals of England, in Thames & Hudson's World of Art series: Amazon uk link. I bought mine in 1974, when I was studying under the shadow of Durham Cathedral, pictured on the cover of my copy: superb b&w photos by Martin Hürlimann.
As Robert has implied, the ones really worth visiting are all medieval in origin (I might quibble about his Gothic label, since my favourite, Durham, is decidedly pre-Gothic in style!).
Clifton-Taylor sums it up nicely: 'Leaving aside the parish-church cathedrals, the four modern Anglican buildings discussed in the last chapter [Truro, Liverpool, Guildford, Coventry] and all those erected since the 1830s by the Roman Catholics, England has twenty-six cathedrals, of which, very conveniently, exactly half are of the first rank. These are: (1) three in the South-East and South: Canterbury, Winchester and Salisbury; (2) three in the West and South-West: Gloucester, Wells and Exeter; (3) three in or close to East Anglia: Norwich, Ely and Peterborough; (4) three in the North-East: Lincoln, York and Durham; (5) London [St Paul's].'
One of the pleasures of being in my line of work is the opportunity to perform music in these wonderful buildings. Next week, it's Elgar's 1st Symphony (and John Adams' The Chairman Dances) in Gloucester Cathedral.
Jonathan
Posts: 2921 | Location: Stroud, UK | Registered: 18 November 2001
Thanks!! I will add these references to my page on Cathedrals. I am also going to divide up my list by region of the country.
I had planned to visit many cathedrals on this trip - but we only got to two: Salisbury and Winchester. We did not even get into Exeter, but we were staying nearby! Next time ...
Thanks for the list! We love the cathedrals of England and try to see as many as possible. I thought we'd seen most of them until I saw your list. We've done 24 -- guess we'll have to go back and try again!
Libbie- If you want to see all of the Anglican Cathedrals, you can go to the Church of England site for a list of the 43 dioceses in England (They include the whole of Europe as the 44th). My wife and I particularly love Exeter, and the Royal Clarence Hotel, on the close, overlooking the Cathedral.
If that's not enough Wales has 6 more Anglican dioceses and Scotland 7.
If your appetite for Cathedrals still isn't sated, then there are an additional 30 Roman Catholic dioceses to sample in England, Scotland & Wales. (You might particularly enjoy Arundel in West Sussex).
Originally posted by Jonathan: England has twenty-six cathedrals, of which, very conveniently, exactly half are of the first rank. These are: (1) three in the South-East and South: Canterbury, Winchester and Salisbury; (2) three in the West and South-West: Gloucester, Wells and Exeter; (3) three in or close to East Anglia: Norwich, Ely and Peterborough; (4) three in the North-East: Lincoln, York and Durham; (5) London [St Paul's].'
Well despite the exclusion I still find Southwark Cathedral an incredibly spiritual place. Even if it isn't counted in the "first rank". I guess I understand why it's not included in the list, but architectural purity isn't everything.
Beebee
Posts: 1951 | Location: London, UK | Registered: 09 September 2002
And if 61 or 63 or 70 (whatever the final number you've arrived at!) cathedrals is not enough for you - Simon Jenkins' book "England's Thousand Best Churches" is a terrific resource. It's a personal list of his thousand "best" non-cathedral churches in England, and we found it a great asset in our wanderings. (And apologies for the slightly OT post, since it's not cathedrals!)
If you get to Lincoln Cathedral, do by all means book yourself into the "rooftop" tour (as long as you're not too afraid of heights). It'll give you a very different view of the cathedral and the surrounding city. Best to book ahead the same day, or perhaps even earlier in high season, but well worth it.
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